syncopated
AmericanOther Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of syncopated
1655–65; < Late Latin syncopāt ( us ) ( see syncopate) + -ed 2
Explanation
In music, rhythms or beats that are unexpected or sound "off" in an interesting way are syncopated. Typically, a syncopated beat puts the stress where it wouldn't usually be. When your ear is expecting a weak beat and instead hears a strong or stressed one, it's syncopated. This adjective can also describe rhythms that are uneven or that disturb the flow of music and take it in a different direction. As a verb, syncopate means to make music with this kind of rhythm and also to "shorten words by omitting syllables," from the Greek root synkope, "contraction of a word."
Vocabulary lists containing syncopated
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Driven by rolling log drums, syncopated rhythms and infectious melodies, amapiano and other electronic sounds from across the African diaspora are finding new audiences in a city celebrated for its musical heritage.
From BBC ● Oct. 24, 2026
The spikier “Tongue” is the other rocker, whose arrangement is a blend of syncopated drum breaks, squelching keyboards and drones built on feedback and distortion.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026
The staging, which can seem cluttered and breathless in the early going, traipses through these seedy locales with a theatrical swiftness that captures the milieu that bred the syncopated rhythm of the Jazz Age.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 4, 2024
Each one’s momentary glow pulses alive and fades in syncopated rhythm with the drowsy croaks of bullfrogs.
From Salon ● May 10, 2024
The Dancing Fan was still dancing, its rubber feet beating out the same syncopated Persian rhythm I’d been listening to all night, but that wasn’t what woke me.
From "Darius the Great Is Not Okay" by Adib Khorram
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
